


Tissues

by writersblock101



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Friendship, High School, High School AU, M/M, One Shot, sick, sick!Josh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 21:50:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11045025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersblock101/pseuds/writersblock101
Summary: Being sick senior year sucks, especially when you're out of excused absent days and have to go to school, but somehow Tyler makes it a little better.





	Tissues

**Author's Note:**

> This can be read as platonic or not. They're referenced as friends, but read into it however you feel fit.

“Uh oh,” Eighteen year old Josh muttered to himself as he felt something crawling up his throat.

He coughed roughly, his chest rattling and his throat raw. Josh kept coughing, unable to stop himself, and felt his lungs burn, desperate for air. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes until finally, the coughing stopped. Josh sniffed, taking a deep breath.

“Mr. Dun, that’s enough,” His cranky math teacher, Mrs. Quantin snapped, irritated.

Out of the corner of his eye, Josh saw Tyler’s fist clenched tightly on his desk, his jaw tightly pressed together. He frantically shook his head at his angry friend, silently begging him not to say anything. Josh didn’t want Tyler to do something stupid and Mrs. Quantin give him a detention because of Josh.

“Yes ma’am,” Josh murmured in a hoarse voice.

It started out as a simple cold. Josh didn’t worry about, neither did his mom, but as the cold progressed from a runny nose and slight cough to painful headaches, fluctuating fevers, and coughing fits which left the senior breathless, then the worry sank it. He was bed ridden for a week, but was running low on excused absences. Normally, Josh nor his family would care about missing school when sick, but if Josh missed anymore days of school, he wouldn’t graduate. So right when Josh’s fever broke, his mom (with a sorry expression and a hefty cocktail of medicine) sent him to school.

Tyler desperately begged Josh to stay at home for a few days, insisting that the school would understand, but Josh refused, stubbornly bent on toughing it out. Also, he wanted to avoid facing any sort of conflict with the principle. Though their principle, Mr. Harting, is very friendly, the idea of conflict made Josh’s heart pound and his hands shake. Instead, Tyler did what he could and made sure he had plenty of tissues and cough drops for Josh.

Unfortunately, Tyler and Josh’s supply of tissues ran out last period, leaving Josh with a clogged up nose which is not helping ease any pressure from his head or chest. Mrs. Quantin was also creating a whole different set of problems for Josh.

Each time Josh coughed or made a slight noise, Mrs. Quantin yelled at him and even went as far as to threaten him with detention if he didn’t stop. Tyler looked moments away from screaming at the woman himself, but Josh managed to keep Tyler in his seat. He wiped his nose on his sleeve, trying to be as quiet as possible. Although he was miserable and felt like death, Josh continued to try to tough it out for the rest of class. It was one of his last ones; he can make it through his second to last class of the day. _Fifteen more minutes._

Another cough crawled up Josh’s throat. He somehow managed to keep it quiet, but not without earning a nasty glare from Mr. Quantin.

“Fuck this,” Tyler muttered to Josh.

“Tyler don’t–”

“Just trust me.”

Josh stared at Tyler for a moment, unsure of whether his friend was going to get himself into trouble over Josh or not. If Tyler is cursing, something he saved for special occasions, he was truly fed up. And if he was truly fed up, nothing was going to stop him, well except maybe Josh who was too tired to try to fight Tyler. _If you can’t beat them, join ‘em._ Josh sighed.

“Alright fine.”

Tyler grinned, a mischievous glint coming over his dark eyes. He returned his attention to the front of the room then sniffed loudly and dramatically. Mrs. Quantin turned to yell at Josh, but Tyler apologetically held his hands up.

“Sorry Mrs. Quantin, that was me.”

She gave Tyler and Josh a long glare, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Tyler sniffed again then Mrs. Quantin finally turned back toward the board. With a satisfied grin, Tyler stood from his seat and began walking around the room.

“Mr. Joseph, what are you doing?” Mrs. Quantin barked at Tyler still wandering around the room.

“Tissues!” Tyler exclaimed. “My nose is running, and I don’t want to be a distraction, but I need to blow my nose.”

“I don’t have any, return to your seat,” The woman snapped.

“But Mrs. Quantin, I really need some,” Tyler insisted.

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose while Josh watched his friend with a curious and amused expression. _Other than driving Mrs. Quantin insane, what are you doing, Tyler?_

“Return to your seat,” She ordered.

Tyler sniffed loudly but returned to his seat anyways. Mrs. Quantin continued writing on the board and explaining problems, but she was cut off by Tyler sniffing once again. She glared at Tyler who shot her a fake apologetic look. The woman opened her mouth to continue lecturing, only to be cut off by a particularlly loud sniff.

“Mr. Joesph,” She snapped. “That is enough.”

“Sorry, Mrs. Quantin,” Tyler faux apologized. “I can’t help it. I _really_ need some tissues.”

“It can wait until between classes,” Mrs. Quantin barked back.

Tyler sniffed again, earning another glare, but held his hands up innocently.

“Please don’t let me be a distraction,” He insisted.

She narrowed her eyes at the brunet but continued teaching anyways. Josh bit his fist to prevent himself from laughing but then felts his nose dipping and sniffed. Mrs. Quanitin spun around to glare at the duo.

“I really need a tissue,” Tyler insisted, taking the attention off Josh.

“You’ll be fine,” She hissed.

She returned to her lesson on the board while Tyler kept sniffing. With each sniff, her grip on the marker tightened, but Mrs. Quantin refused to give Tyler the satisfaction. This continued for five minutes until finally, Mrs. Quantin snapped.

“Tyler, go to the bathroom and blow your nose!” She pointed toward the door.

“Yes, ma’am!” Tyler grinned, eagerly hopping out of his seat.

Once Tyler left the room, Mrs. Quantin seemed to sigh with relief, but any relief she felt quickly dissipated with Tyler’s return. Paper towels overflowed from Tyler’s jacket and jeans pockets, including his back pockets. He proudly waltzed into the room with a smug grin while Josh attempted to stifle his laughter. Mrs. Quantin sighed again, ordered Tyler to his seat in a defeated voice and returned to teaching. Once their teacher directed her attention away from the two boys, Tyler dug the paper towels out of his pockets and handed them to Josh who smiled gratefully. _What would I do without you, Tyler?_

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually a (nicer version) of scene from the book I’m currently writing (hints why it is not openly shipping because in the original scene, its two friends). I wrote it then thought I can totally see Tyler and Josh doing this and here we are. Inspired by (somewhat) true events– Get rid of the bitchy teacher, but keep Tyler being a troll and sniffing and stuffing every pocket with paper towels and you have someone from my econ class senior year. Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading


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